Pair blow off some steam
Hightower, Mason benefit from hot yoga
FOXBORO — When Dont’a Hightower asked Shaq Mason to join him for a new workout class he was trying out, the Patriots offensive lineman admitted he was skeptical at first.
After all, this sounded even tougher than most practices with his posi- tion coach and resident drill sergeant Dante Scarnecchia.
Hightower informed him they’d be going into a studio, where they cranked the temperature up over 100 degrees. Then, in those steamy-hot conditions, they’d be contorting their body in all kinds of crazy positions for the next 90 minutes.
“Yeah, we do all these awkward poses in a sauna,” Mason said with a laugh. “At first I was a little uneasy about it, but then I said I’d do it. Now, I love it. It’s become a habit.”
Hot yoga, anyone? During the offseason, Hightower and Mason, who both hail from Tennessee and don’t live very far apart, are regulars on the hot yoga circuit.
The fact there aren’t many in the class, along with the extreme level of heat, hasn’t deterred them.
They still make a point of going at least two times a week when they’re home.
So while Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are into pliability and use resistance bands, Hightower and Mason are into flexibility training in 100-plus degree heat.
“It helps my flexibility, and my core,” Hightower said of the unusual yoga regimen. “In football, you use your core in a lot of things, whether you’re anchoring down or you’re trying to push and pull.”
If there’s a benefit on the field, football players are apt to try any kind of workout.
Mason believes it’s helped him, and while Hightower has had trouble staying healthy throughout his career (suffering a torn pectoral muscle last year), the Patriots linebacker also swears by it. His interest in yoga actually dates back to when he played at Alabama for Nick Saban.
It was Bill Belichick’s old coaching buddy who first hooked Hightower on Pilates, exercises designed to improve physical strength, flexibility and posture.
“It wasn’t a requirement, but something Nick and (Tide strength and conditioning coach) Scott Cochran firmly believed in,” Hightower said.
Saban and Cochran had Hightower doing Pilates and yoga in college, and he continued the practice in the NFL. But after surgery to repair a torn labrum a few years ago, Hightower upped the stakes. He wanted to do something where he could get a decent workout while rehabbing.
Hot yoga did the trick. “I was just trying to figure out something I could do after surgery that wasn’t going to strain me too bad,” Hightower said. “It’s more than (regular) yoga. I think I get a lot out of it.” Mason agreed.
He said he would have never gotten into any kind of yoga, hot or otherwise, if Hightower hadn’t pulled him in. It wasn’t anywhere near his radar, but now he can’t think of doing anything else to help get himself ready for the season.
“It makes you more limber. It’s a full-body workout at times,” said the Patriots right guard. “You’re sweating, getting loose, so it’s like getting a good workout in.”
Said Hightower: “It can be tough. It helps you physically and mentally. It’s hot as (bleep) in there. You have to concentrate on your breathing. That’s a big aspect of it. When you’re on the field, you only have a few seconds in between plays. So the breathing aspect helps. But I enjoy it. I’d do that, then go home and nap for hour.”
Would they call it fun? Actually, it’s more like they have fun doing it together. They crack up at each other because there are some poses only Hightower can do, while Mason can’t come close to getting his body in that particular position, and vice versa.
“Yeah, we just look at each other and chuckle,” said Hightower, “but it’s actually pretty relaxing. It’s fun.”
After their first class, however, they almost didn’t go back. It was somewhat overwhelming.
“That first class, it was so hot, we were ready to tap out,” Hightower said with a smile. “But we stayed in there. We kept at it.”
That’s what Patriots do. When the going gets tough, they don’t give up. They keep coming back.